Mallakhamb World Championship 2019: Indian Gymnast Shines at the First Ever Mega Event

The inaugural Mallakhamb World's Championship was hosted at Shivaji Park yesterday, where the host country got many reason to smile due to its gymnast. However, the men's team missed out on gold because the other team fail to make it to the field. ‘Dipa Karmakar – The Small Wonder’ Autobiography of the Star Gymnast Launched by Sachin Tendulkar: View Pictures of the Book Launch.

The yesterday event saw cut throat competition between two Indian girls, Himani Parab from Mumbai and Pratiksha More from Satara. The Mumbai girl emerged victorious by securing 74.70 points and Satara girl lost by very low margin as she ended up scoring 74.40 points. This particular contest combining rope and pole was for the women's individual championship. The two Indians secured gold and silver medal, while the bronze in this title was taken away by Japan's Keiko Takemoto.

Himani Parab also won two gold medals in the individual short set and long set rope categories said that she faced stiff competition from Pratiksha More and was tallying same in score with her until the last deciding round took place. Parab told that it was the final rope performance which made the difference, where she gave her best to ensure her victory.

A similar type of competition was also observed between two other Indians for men's individual overall championship. The fight was between two Mumbaikar- Deepak Shinde and Sagar Ovhalkar. Shinde won gold with 84.30 points on the other hand Ovhalkar managed silver with 83.70 points, while the bronze was awarded to Germany's Sebastian Krimmer with 36.81 points.

According to Ovhalkar his performance was not upto the mark, which made him missed on gold. However, Ovhalkar bagged two gold medals for short and long set of the pole category and another set of gold in long set of rope mallakhamb. He was also awarded with Shiv Chhatrapati award later in the evening.

The Indians men team missed out on gold medal in the team championship as the other country was unable to fulfill the criteria of having a team of minimum four players.

The display of women empowerment clearly showcased at the event as the women's team comprising of Parab, More, Pooja Malviya, Kethziya, Janabai Patil and Ritu Prajapati dominated the game by winning gold with a combined total of 244.73(pole and rope). The Singapore girls won Silver by securing 44.45 points and Malaysian girls won bronze with 30.22 points.  However in pole category competition, Indian girl couldn't manage gold and end up with bronze, as they were outclassed by the performance of Japanese pole dancer Keiko Takemoto and Italy's circus artist Delia Ceruti who clinched gold and silver respectively.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 18, 2019 05:18 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).